The more things change, the more they stay the same. Megan Baker came across The Practical Book of Home Repairs by Chelsea Fraser, which is available online. It was first published in 1925, which, believe it or not, is 97 years ago. How useful would such a book be now? The truth is, you have to take each tidbit separately, because some things have changed considerably, safety rules in particular.
Some of the advice holds up extremely well, such as how to use basic tools. But think about the world in 1925. People took care of their own home maintenance from top to bottom. A lot of houses were even built by the people who lived in them. Small towns and rural areas didn't have specialists to check, say, your venting system. People also didn't realize how dangerous certain chemicals were, to themselves or to the environment. You did what you could with what you had, or what you could get, which wasn't all that safe in the long run. Read a sampling of advice that holds up very well from a century ago, and a few things that horrified Baker as she read them, at Apartment Therapy. And before you do any home repairs yourself, get the. latest advice from people who are up on that sort of thing. -via Digg